Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-12-28
How Coal Ashes Help.

A correspondent OF the Practical
Farmer writes that there was q sur
prising increase of yield and improve
ment in the quality of his crop of
potatoes where coal ashes had been
applied at the rate of thirty large
carloads to the acre. He infers that
there is q large amount of fertilizing
material in these ashes, and asks
whether it is phosphoric acid, pot
ash, nitrogen or what?" Analysis
shows that coal ashes contain an ex-
ceedingly small amount of plant food.
Nevertheless, their effect on the potato
yield is not surprising. Our CORE.
spondent's land is g. rich, heavy clay
loan. Soils of this character,
especially when they contain @ MKT
ure of muck, are apt to pack and
bake if they are worked when q trife
over-wet and the coal ashes help by
improving the soils mechanical char
acter and keeping it open and fine,
instead of hard and lumpy.
At the Ohio Experiment Station,
where test plots of potatoes were
grown in q garden with a heavy, black
soil, the best yield was made where
coal ashes were used at the rate of
twenty tons per acre. From this plot
1924 bushels were gathered, while only
2O2.5 bushels were gathered from g.
plot dressed with wood ashes at the
rate of fifty bushels per ac;e. Wood
ashes is a valuable fertilizer, but this
soil needed tillage more than ma
nure. The coal ashes acted practi-
cally as tillage does. That is, it kept
the particles fine and separate, and
assisted the circulation of the air,
helped the water to exercise more free
~ it's powers as solvent, and made
it easier for roots to forage around
for nourishment. SAND would help
these soils in the same way. It should
not be forgotten that enriching q soil
with plant food is only one way of
making it better. There are others
quite as effective, and they should not
be overlooked.
Begin the Hot Bed Now.
Hot beds to be used next spring
should be partly prepared now. Beds
can be made upon frozen ground in
spring, if one has an abundance of ma
nure, but it requires a large pile to
keep up a uniform heat when ex-
posed to the cold weather of Februa-
ry and March. A bed sunken two
feet below the surface gets consideras
BILE protection from the surrounding
earth. 1t is not necessary that the
frames be made this fall, though it
would be well to have them as nearly
ready as practicable. The main thing
RI hn 70
depth, and, after digging, fill them
with leaves, straw or old refuse hay,
and then cover with boards to keep
the water out. The pits can be opened
then at any time in late winter, Or
early spring, and filed with heating
manure, after which the beds will be
ready for the frames. Evergreen
boughs might be used IN place O.
leaves or straw, if they are more east
~ obtained. The main thing is to
have hole in the ground of suitable
size and shape, without digging
through frost when the bed is wanted
for starting the seeds.
1t will also be necessary to prepare
some good soil for covering the ma
nure and receiving the seeds, and to
put it under cover where it will keep
dry, or free from frost. Not less than
to cover the manure three or four
inches deep should be prepared. Old
garden soil with plenty of sand, and
well decomposed stable manure work
ed In, will make a suitable feeding
ground for the young plants to be
raised. There is nothing better than
the material in an old hot-bed, but
when one starts in the business there
is no old bed to draw from. The
frame can be made at any timein win
ter, when there is leisure, or the planks
may be sawed the right length all
ready to spike together in spring.